I think the new show is fun.

It's kind of ridiculous that there's this idea that somehow after a week of training that anyone could beat a fighter who specializes in that style and fight rules. My guess is the aspect of the end fight was added to make the show more "interesting."

But still, I think this is a good show that is giving the arts a lot of publicity. It talks about real history and culture and shows the teachers in a good light.

What do you guys think?

I like the show very much, it's well done and entertaining.

I agree, the fight at the end gives the guys a "reason" to train and adds some excitement.

I definitely have been making the effort to watch the show. I think it's going to have a positive effect on Martial Arts, but in the same light show ma's in a more realistic light.

I too have been getting into this show. It's kind of like if they blended the History, Discovery, ESPN, Spike and Travel channels together and made a show based around martial arts.

I like the fact that in all the episoeds I've seen, all the people they search out and choose to train with all do some kind of full contact fighting with resisting opponents. And it's interesting to see 2 guys of different sizes and experiences go into these situations, and see how each one deals with it.

I think my favorite one so far is the FMA one, but they've all been good. The Savate one looks like it's going to be great, but it would be interesting to see if they do a CMA one and who they decide to search out to train with.

Savate one was very nice. I've always liked Savate. A friend of mine used to train with Salem Assli at the Inosanto Academy in LA and he showed me some of the kicks including the Chasse and Chasse Bas, as well as chambering the leg.

i haven't caught it yet, but it sounds like the reviews are positive

i think that the host trains under Eddie Bravo and has had a couple of MMA fights.

I have seen three of the shows: Muay Thai, Eskrima, and Savate. All three were really good. I have the Karate one tape waiting for me to have a free hour. I agree with all the previous comments. It is a History Channel show, so the production values are high and the information is clear. The two hosts both have previous training in stuff (and know exactly what they are getting into with each episode even if they "play dumb" some of the time).

The shows website has short bios on the two hosts and lists all the arts they are going to have episodes on.
http://www.history.com/minisites/humanweapon

They are apparently going to do an episode on "Kung Fu" so it will be interesting to see what style(s) they actually deal with.

I dig it! You can tell when the opponents are holding back (like the Muay Thai fight)but a very entertaining hour - I like the the way they present the history. I hope the BIG GUY fights at the end of the Judo episode.

Have the producers contacted you yet Tim ;-)

No, but I'd be happy to wrassle with the big guy.

me three.

Jason said they might to a BJJ episode. He's working to get it through.

i saw the 'match' at the end of the judo episode with the competitor from Tokai...

I think my favorite part is when Jason Chambers is like "this is guy is pretty good".

That judoka had been training in Judo for over twenty years -- he has great balance & strength (& he really knows his stuff... go figure, eh?).

My neighbor has been recording these episodes so I've seen many (if not all) of them (so far)... I really liked the Karate training clips, although the end-fight is a new sport that disallows head-strikes by hand, forearm, or elbow... yet you can kick the guy in the head (go figure).

The Pancreas (sp?) episode is interesting in that some Greeks are trying to rediscover their long-lost martial-art(s) via depictions on ancient pottery & sculpture... end fight has pretty-much the same basic rules as the Karate end-fight (you can kick a guy in the head, but don't punch him there... seems kinda crazy to me).

the no punching to the head rule is a serious limitation to the competition format, but it allows the avoidance of gloves, which makes the rest of the hand techniques stay traditional. Kyokushin tournaments are some of the more "realistic" and hardcore you will find in the Karate realm.

Looks like they (the shows hosts) both liked the Krav Maga... there's another Israeli art that's pretty interesting called Hisardut (in English: Survival -- ???).

or they also have these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abir_%28martial_art%29

http://www.kapap.net/

from what I could see is a mix of asian systems and other stuff and they call it as their own. weird